Remote control units are commonly bundled together with many forms of devices given the widespread expectation that they are provided by manufacturers of the devices for users' convenience during use of the devices. The many forms of devices may include, for example in a non-limiting manner, televisions, air-conditioners, fans, VCRs, multimedia-content players/recorders, speakers, television content decoder units, PC-based entertainment units, gaming consoles, lighting devices and so forth. Nowadays, it is unusual for any of the aforementioned devices to be sold without a bundled remote control unit. However, this has consequently led to a situation where there are several remote control units available for use at any instance in time, leading to both a cluttered appearance from the presence of the numerous remote control units and unfortunately, a degree of confusion for the user in relation to determining which remote control unit is able to control which device.
A universal remote control unit typically provides a single remote control unit which is able to control a plurality of devices. Usually, a universal remote control unit includes a selection of a plurality of categories, with each category corresponding to a different device to be controlled. However, a user who wishes to have “pick up and use” usability in relation to the universal remote control unit would not be able to do so in view of the necessity to select an appropriate category (device) in order to control a desired device.
Furthermore, controlling more than one device becomes inconvenient with the necessity to select the appropriate category before the user is able to control the desired devices. While it is undeniable that the universal remote control unit is able to reduce the cluttered appearance by reducing the number of remote control units from several to one, there are still unfavourable issues in relation to the usability of such universal remote control units which are detrimental to a convenience of a user.
The present invention aims to address these issues for the convenience of the users of such universal remote control units.